Chapter 1033: The Ancient Dragon Ruins Reopen

Qing Cang, the top disciple of the Heavenly Dao Sect, stared at the glowing, multicolored divine stone in his hands, filled with extreme excitement.
“I’ve finally found the Luo Hai Divine Crystal! I’ve finally found it!” As he spoke, Qing Cang’s expression turned fierce. “Huang Long, you are doomed to be crushed by me—crushed like a dog!”
To achieve sanctity through the path of enlightenment!
By then, he could kill Huang Long however he wished!
“But I won’t let you die so easily!” Qing Cang gritted his teeth, speaking each word slowly. “I’ll make your life worse than death!”
His voice echoed throughout the walls of the cave for a long time.
After a while, Qing Cang calmed down and vanished in a flash.
However, he wasn’t in a hurry to make progress within these Ancient Dragon Ruins, as it was too risky. It would be safer to return to the headquarters of the Heavenly Dao Sect in the Central World and advance under the guidance of his master, the Central Sacred Lord.
Achieving sanctity required perfection—any mistake would render billions of years of hard work worthless. Failure would mean utter destruction…
…
Inside the Cave of the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother, after finding the materials he needed, Huang Long didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he entered seclusion within the Heavenly Sacred Cauldron to refine the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother.
This being was a peak warrior from the later stages of the Twelfth Era, and its life force, essence, and cosmic laws were an immense source of nourishment for Huang Long.
Although Huang Long had already reached the peak of the later stages of the Twelfth Era, there were still differences in strength among those at that level—just like Qing Cang from the Heavenly Dao Sect and Gu Han from the Infinite Gate.
Though both were at the peak of the later stages of the Twelfth Era, Gu Han was weaker than Qing Cang.
Now, Huang Long needed to keep strengthening himself and accumulating more power. He knew that the stronger he became and the more he accumulated, the easier it would be to achieve sanctity.
A month later, Huang Long and Long Cheng finally left the Cave of the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother.
During that month, Huang Long had completely refined the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother, absorbing and integrating its life force, essence, and cosmic laws. The power of a peak warrior from the later stages of the Twelfth Era was astonishing—even the combined power of the Three Elders of the Corpse Demon Sect—Si Wu Xing, as well as Kai Qi and Jun De from the Heavenly Dao Sect—was not as great.
After fully refining the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother, Huang Long’s strength grew even further.
Now, he was undoubtedly the strongest being second only to a saint. With his current power, even without using sacred artifacts like the World Tree, the Chaos Bell, the Heavenly Sacred Cauldron, or the Spirit-Communicating Jade, he could easily defeat someone like Qing Cang from the Heavenly Dao Sect.

“Now, even a saint in the early stage of the Hunyuan Supreme Realm can’t kill me!” Huang Long sensed the strength of his true body and thought to himself, a sense of dominance over the world surging within him.
Yes, Huang Long was confident that even in the face of a Hunyuan Supreme Realm saint, he could still escape.
Of course, despite this, he didn’t dare to arrogantly claim he could engage in a fierce battle with such a saint.
A saint who has achieved enlightenment is truly a saint—a being recognized by the Heavenly Dao.
Recognized by the Heavenly Dao, their actions embody the laws of the ultimate Dao.
There is a world of difference between such a saint and those below them.
“However, I wonder if my strength can still improve before I achieve enlightenment,” Huang Long mused.
Generally speaking, once one reaches the level of Qing Cang, the top disciple of the Heavenly Dao School, it becomes impossible to further enhance one’s strength due to constraints of the true body.
No matter how powerful the true body is, the contained energy eventually reaches a limit.
The reason Huang Long was able to fully refine, absorb, and integrate the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother was because his true body was extremely powerful—his body, cultivated using the Supreme Transformation Art, had reached a terrifying level of strength.
Now, Huang Long was a being who defied the norms even among those below saints.
It would be impossible for anyone else to achieve such a status.
After leaving the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother’s cave, Huang Long continued to delve deeper into the Ancient Dragon Ruins alongside Long Cheng and the others, lost in thought.
One month passed.
Two months passed.
Before long, it had been almost a year since Huang Long and his companions entered the Ancient Dragon Ruins.
After leaving the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother’s cave, Huang Long continued to find the materials needed to elevate his true body to the King rank, such as Golden Dragon Purple Wood.
Soon, he would have almost all the materials required for the upgrade.
His strength had also increased significantly since leaving the Thousand-Faced Heavenly Mother.
However, Huang Long had not yet severed his three corpses to trigger the trial of becoming a saint.
He was no longer satisfied with merely achieving enlightenment as a saint; he wanted to accumulate strength beforehand so that when he did achieve enlightenment, he could leap straight from the early stage of the Hunyuan Supreme Realm to the middle or even later stages!
Others might not be able to do this, but Huang Long could!
Because he had cultivated the Supreme Transformation Art!
Of course, Huang Long wasn’t in a hurry to achieve enlightenment as a saint either—his confidence in his own strength meant that even without doing so, his strength was already comparable to that of an ordinary saint in the early stage of the Hunyuan Supreme Realm. He had the ability to protect himself against such saints.
So, Huang Long planned to find the Ten Thousand Luo Divine Water, swallow that drop of Sacred King’s essence blood, and then sever his three corpses to achieve enlightenment as a saint.
“By then, I’ll break through from the early stage of the Hunyuan Supreme Realm, maybe even to the middle stage, and reach the later stage at once!” Huang Long’s eyes sparkled.

“Brother Huanglong, in a few days, it will be a year since we arrived at the Ancient Dragon Ruins. When it reopens, going out then will likely be dangerous!” Long Cheng said.
Huanglong naturally understood what Long Cheng meant and smiled, “Don’t worry, nothing will happen.”
Long Cheng opened his mouth to say more, but Huanglong raised his hand to stop him. “Young Clan Leader Long Cheng, there’s no need to say more. I’m clear about this matter.”
Long Cheng had no choice but to stop.
“Second brother, third brother—no one knows where they’ve gone.” After a while, Long Cheng changed his tone and mentioned Long Bin, Long Zhi, and the others. After Huanglong fought against Qing Cang from the Heavenly Dao Sect and Gu Han from the Infinite Gate, these people disappeared completely, as if they had never entered the Ancient Dragon Ruins at all.
Even Qing Cang from the Heavenly Dao Sect and Gu Han from the Infinite Gate vanished.
Huanglong mused, “It doesn’t matter where they hide. The most important thing is that most of the Golden Dragon Talismans are in your hands. I doubt they can come up with anything. We just need to wait for the day the Ancient Dragon Ruins reopen!”
Long Cheng smiled and said, “Brother Huanglong is right.”
Now, Long Cheng already had over 700 Golden Dragon Talismans, giving him a strong advantage.
So, Huanglong stopped wasting effort searching for Qing Cang and the others and simply waited for the Ancient Dragon Ruins to reopen.
Soon, a few days passed.
On that day, suddenly the entire Ancient Dragon Ruins began to tremble. Lights flashed high in the sky, casting a brilliant golden glow. Huanglong, who had been sitting quietly, opened his eyes.
The day the Ancient Dragon Ruins reopened had finally arrived.
Then, spatial cracks appeared high in the sky of the Ancient Dragon Ruins.
Huanglong and Long Cheng, along with the others, flew out through those spatial cracks. Shortly after they emerged, several figures flew out of the Ancient Dragon Ruins as well. Upon seeing them, Huanglong recognized them as Gu Han from the Infinite Gate and the leader of the Seven Leaves Sect.